A. In Episode 11, of Season 7, "Do You See What I See?"
Dexter wants to kill Hector Estrada, the man who ordered the murder of his mother. So he meets him outside a bar,
pretends to be a drug pusher seeking a partner, and convinces him to
meet him here after dark, on Christmas Eve, to check out the drugs.
In this scene, Estrada shows up, and Dexter leads him into a cargo
container where (surprise!) Dexter has set up his usual kill room,
wrapped in plastic.
After telling Estrada who he is and why he is going to kill him, Dexter
is about to chop him up with a chain saw (the same method they used to
kill his mother), when Estrada says that the police captain set him up.
Dexter realizes that this IS a setup, by LaGuerta, but he is the one being set up.
LaGuerta deliberately had Estrada released from prison because she knew Dexter would take the bait and try to kill him.
Sure enough, LaGuerta shows up on the scene, with backup, and closes in
on the cargo container, guns drawn. We can hear the sound of a
chain saw inside.
But when she enters, all she finds is a chain saw running by itself on
the table, plus Dexter's usual plastic surroundings. Dexter (and Estrada) are gone.
Dexter has Estrada at knife point, as they flee the scene, but Estrada manages to escape and jumps into the harbor.
This same container yard/kill room shows up again during the climax of
the season finale, Episode 12, when Dexter kills Estrada there, and is
then about to kill LaGuerta, when Debra unexpectedly arrives on the
scene, and winds up shooting LaGuerta herself.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A cargo container located on the property of a tug boat operator.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This is the exact same spot where they filmed the scene of LaGuerta and Matthews searching Doakes' deserted boathouse.
It was shot down at the Long Beach docks, at Curtin Maritime, a tugboat operator located at 1500 Pier C Street, Berth 57, in Long Beach. The shed/boathouse is real - you can see it in the aerial photo below.
That long, white tank next to the boathouse is visible in this
kill-room scene. Laguerta walks right past it as she approaches
the kill-room. They most likely brought in the cargo containers
for this scene, and set them up in the yard just south of the deserted
boathouse.
Here is a Google aerial photo of the boathouse (looking north):
See that large, narrow white tank just to the left of the boathouse?
Well, here it is in the background of this scene, right next to that same boathouse:
(You can also see part of the tank in this screenshot, as Dexter & Estrada walk past it.)
A. In the early seasons, I usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes,
using clues from the various scenes. By the now, though,
I've developed a small group of fans, spies & tipsters who kept an
eye out for Dexter filming in their neighborhoods, and would let me know
in advance when something was about to film there.
Between those reports, my own personal reconnaissance around town, and a
few new resources I discovered, by the time the first episode airs, I
already know most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
need to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.
This group of helpful fans includes Rick, Ellen, Elaine, Mia, Joel, Susan, Eric, Jeff, Kerry & others. My thanks to all of
them.
This tip came from Rick. (Thanks, Rick!) I then spotted the matching white tank during the scene, confirming the exact location.